"Life is very unbalanced right now," Ell, the newest 2018 Taste of Country RISER, says, "and I am fine with that, because I am getting to do what I love and what I have dreamt of doing. I'm living that life. I am as tired as I dreamed of being ... Life is insanely unbalanced."

Not that the grind hasn't taken its toll: Ell admits that life's fast pace and her passion for music has interfered in her love life, but, she says, even that has given her new energy for her songwriting.

"I feel like, through going through heartbreak in my personal life, I am a lot more fearless about what I do musically," she shares. It's that courage, and heartbreak, that makes Ell's music all the more relatable, and she says she has no regrets about the grind of the path she has chosen.

"I’ve always been a hard worker. I was a nerd in school growing up. I played guitar in my bedroom, and I studied, and that’s all I did," she shares. "I graduated a year early because I just wanted to get out of high school so I could go play shows on the road. So I sped through Grade 10 in, like, five months."

It was during her high school years that Ell learned how to prioritize all of her passions. It's a lesson she says her father taught her: "Choose what you want to do. You can't do everything at 100 percent, so choose a few things, and do those great."

Ell's 2017 album The Project, her major-label full-length debut, landed her critical acclaim and opening-act spots for Sugarland and Keith Urban this year.